Covid Vaccine Distribution

[athena53]

Regarding people not showing up for appointments--I wonder if most of them are folks who where able to get an appointment somewhere else closer to home or earlier and just did not cancel the other appointment. One issue here is that it is difficult sometime to cancel an appointment --no easy way to do that and the phone lines are tied up.

Yeah, I wondered about that this morning when I went for my second shot. Appointment was at 11, I showed up at 10:30 and they took me right away. I was out before 11. The location (Sedalia, MO) was about an hour from my home near KC but I took it because they were the first to call me. After that many of the other (far more convenient) places where I'd signed up sent me opportunities for appointments. Most provided no easy way to tell them I didn't need an appointment. One of the workers in Sedalia said she'd seen a large number of people from the KC area. I wonder if others booked an appointment in Sedalia and then abandoned it in favor of one closer to home.

 

[Koolau]

It may be patchwork between all of the states, but compared to the world, the US is doing fantastic! The rate is quite amazing to me. The magnitude of the supply and staff that have been mobilized show what can be done when there's money to be made.

Good point.

Taking my usual 90 degree turn, it makes me think of the progress we've made (in general - not just in vaccine delivery.) I've mentioned that my mom had the 1918 flu and nearly died. Vaccination (as far as I know) wasn't even considered for that disease.

I was one of the early recipients of the Salk Vaccine against polio. Think how long my parents had to wait just for the vaccine to be developed, tested and produced. It must have been agony, watching me (and my sister) head for school each day, knowing that the dreaded disease was still lurking. It was YEARS of nail biting - I've since watched a couple of programs showing the silent panic that folks felt at the time. I know several of my contemporaries who got the disease. One girl who recently died from complications of the lingering effects of the disease suffered for over 50 years. Apparently I had a mild case of the disease which has caused me some issues as well.

It's been, what(?), 15 months since I even heard of Covid 19. I've already received my first dose of vaccine and have my second dose scheduled. My parents - if they were alive would have considered this a miracle. So do I, but YMMV.

 

[camfused]

The news said that 1% (about 3.5M) of the US population was vaccinated yesterday!

And, I think they said 11M does of J&J will ship next week.

 

[ivinsfan]

Good point.

Taking my usual 90 degree turn, it makes me think of the progress we've made (in general - not just in vaccine delivery.) I've mentioned that my mom had the 1918 flu and nearly died. Vaccination (as far as I know) wasn't even considered for that disease.

I was one of the early recipients of the Salk Vaccine against polio. Think how long my parents had to wait just for the vaccine to be developed, tested and produced. It must have been agony, watching me (and my sister) head for school each day, knowing that the dreaded disease was still lurking. It was YEARS of nail biting - I've since watched a couple of programs showing the silent panic that folks felt at the time. I know several of my contemporaries who got the disease. One girl who recently died from complications of the lingering effects of the disease suffered for over 50 years. Apparently I had a mild case of the disease which has caused me some issues as well.

It's been, what(?), 15 months since I even heard of Covid 19. I've already received my first dose of vaccine and have my second dose scheduled. My parents - if they were alive would have considered this a miracle. So do I, but YMMV.

My DH was talking about the polio vaccine this weekend. He was in a little country school house and they sent buses to pick up all the kids that were getting vaccinated....there were like 20 plus kids in the schoolhouse and he and his sister were the only two to get vaccinated. He remembers when they got on the bus the other kids stared at them like they would never return.


Sad that after over 60 plus years some people still don't believe in modern vaccine medicine.

 

[ivinsfan]

The news said that 1% (about 3.5M) of the US population was vaccinated yesterday!

And, I think they said 11M does of J&J will ship next week.

J and J will really change the game for the better. They expected some J and J this week but it didn't happen. My dear friend has really bad allergies and her doc wanted her to get the J and J. They didn't get their shipment this week so she had the P shot and sat in her doctors office for 45 minutes while being closely monitored.

 

[OldConch]

One and done in Phoenix last Tuesday. Other than a little bit of a sore arm, no side effects.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow, what a difference a couple of days makes! Today suddenly there is a large supply of Pfizer vaccines at Walgreens in my zip code for Friday 4/2/21. I’m still glad I’m scheduled to get vaccinated on Monday, and it was worth leaving a bit earlier to get home on time as for me even a few days feels like it makes a difference. But wow!

 

[RetireBy90]

DW got second shot of Pfizer yesterday and no symptoms to speak of. My second Pfizer is set for Wednesday. We did some manual labor yesterday morning so DW attributes soreness to the physical work we don’t do a lot of.

 

[Chuckanut]

Washington state had a huge increases in doses this week and maybe for next week thanks to the JnJ vaccine. Then no JnJ vaccine for 3-4 weeks, Moderna and Pfizer only. EZ come, EZ go.

 

[Gumby]

Got my second Pfizer dose last night and the young wife got hers this morning. So far, so good. We each took a picture of our fully completed vaccine card with our cell phone and have put the originals in our passports.

Starting on Thursday, Connecticut is opening eligibility to everyone 16 and up. As of this past Thursday, 38% + of all adults had received at least the 1st dose, 57% of the people 45+, and 80% of the people over 75. Things are rolling along well. I suspect that by May supply will outstrip demand and they'll have to work to convince the laggards to get vaccinated. They have already started sending out vaccination vans and going door to door in some of the poorer neighborhoods toward that end.

 

[Koolau]

My DH was talking about the polio vaccine this weekend. He was in a little country school house and they sent buses to pick up all the kids that were getting vaccinated....there were like 20 plus kids in the schoolhouse and he and his sister were the only two to get vaccinated. He remembers when they got on the bus the other kids stared at them like they would never return.


Sad that after over 60 plus years some people still don't believe in modern vaccine medicine.

I still recall walking by myself to the local grammar school to get my first shot. When I got there, it was packed. I felt just a bit self-concious because I wasn't wearing a shirt (I'd been playing shirtless outside when my parents called me to tell me it was time.) I recall the production line of kids receiving shots. I was determined that I would NOT cry as some kids were doing after receiving their shot. I do recall that it hurt quite a bit (back then, I was this skinny kid with no extra meat to penetrate.) I also recall that the liquid was colored (maybe red??) and that there was a LOT of it in the syringe. Maybe that's where the rumor that the vaccine was "monkey blood!"

I have no idea how the shots were documented or how they knew it was okay to give this kid-on-his-own a shot. Maybe mom or dad sent a piece of paper with me - I just don't recall.

I agree about the folks who have the issues with vaccinations. It's clear that there will always be reactions - maybe even deaths when enough folks are vaccinated. It's just the nature of the beast that 1 in X will have a bad reaction and 1 in XXXX will die - for no apparent reason other than an idiosyncratic reaction. Folks seem NOT to be apply the risk vs benefit ratio to themselves. Recent measles outbreaks shows what happens when folks deny the science and say "not my kid."

Returning you now to our regularly scheduled discussion since YMMV.

 

[Amethyst]

We didn't get polio shots, that I remember. We got sugar cubes at school, twice. Third grade (I might have been 7).

A childhood friend, a year old than I, tells me I probably got a shot when I was too young to remember. He said the sugar cubes at school were boosters.

 

[harllee]

I think I got the polio shot in the mid 1950s. I would have been about 5 --I hated shots and remember we stood in a line to get the shot and I took off running and my mother had to chase me down, I got in big trouble and got the shot anyway. Then when I was about 10 there was the sugar cube vaccine, which I liked a lot better. My entire family went to the armory and lined up in a long line for the sugar cube. If I remember correctly the shot vaccine was only about 50% effective so it was necessary to also get the sugar cube vaccine.

The really scary thing about polio is that it affected children much worse than adults. My 90 year old mother tells the story that one of her young playmates contracted polio and died (this would have been around 1935) and my mother had to be quarantined in her house the whole summer. Mother says she was told that if she left her yard her father would be put in jail

 

[Gumby]

I remember standing in a very long line to get that sugar cube. Mothers had infinite patience to protect their children from polio.

 

[Amethyst]

The school nurse and some other people brought the sugar cubes to each classroom in our elementary school. We just lined up as a class. As I recall, we were pretty chill about it. Same thing for periodic TB tine tests.

I also remember seeing posters for polio vaccination in the local Post Office, with sad photos of children in iron lungs.

I remember standing in a very long line to get that sugar cube. Mothers had infinite patience to protect their children from polio.

 

[JoeWras]

Ya'll who got the sugar cubes were lucky. We just got drops under our tongue. The drops tasted something like urine soaked dirt.

 

[regenaeb]

I received my first shot yesterday evening. Hardly felt it and no soreness at first. Woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and noticed my arm was stiff. It is sore this morning. So far the only side effect, just like the flu vaccine every year.

I was one of the last appointments at the CVS last evening. They had two people not show up earlier in the day, I heard the girl at check in talking about it. She said both she and the pharmacist have tried calling them several times to see if they were coming. But by 5:30, since they had not shown up and were not responding to phone calls they were going to give the shots away. Two elderly parents of someone that worked at the pharmacy showed up for the left overs. There were a couple of others that walked up while I was in the waiting area after my shot that asked about left overs and were told they were already gone. And the people were cool about it, more like a just checking situation. Was glad to see two 65+ people were able to get their shots from the left overs. I also heard the check in girl tell another patient that they do about 100 shots on the weekends and 125 on the weekdays (they are not open as late on weekends). They had a great set up, was really easy and plenty of room for the wait time afterward. They schedule 5 people per 15 minute window and keep them moving.

 

[anethum]

Lots of American baby boomers on this site (including me), and most of us have now been at least partially vaccinated. SNL had an inspired song with some clever lyrics & visuals this weekend, "Boomers Got the Vax".

 

[FIYes]

Got my second jab yesterday. This morning I have a sore arm and am tired.....no big deal. However, I predict a nap in my future today.

So far, I haven’t started singing Jolene. I got Moderna aka the Dolly Dose.

 

[Chuckanut]

We didn't get polio shots, that I remember. We got sugar cubes at school, twice. Third grade (I might have been 7).

A childhood friend, a year old than I, tells me I probably got a shot when I was too young to remember. He said the sugar cubes at school were boosters.

I got the shot, according to my parents. Later I got the sugar cubes.

The sugar cubes can be thought of as boosters I suppose, but more than that they were the new Sabin vaccine that was even better at preventing polio than the Salk vaccine. It took about 7 years to go from Salk to Sabin. Another good analogy is the old Shingles vaccine and the new Shingrix vaccine. They keep getting better. I imagine we will have a booster or maybe an entirely new corona virus vaccine before this mess is reduced to a trivial nuisance for most of us.

Below is a comparison of the two vaccines. There are some interesting differences between the two vaccines. I assume (there's that dangerous word again) that current polio vaccines are even better in all ways.

https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-salk-and-sabin-polio-vaccine/

 

[JoeWras]

I'm donating platelets again today. I spoke with the blood center logistics-fulfillment director today and she says that in the last weeks, the requests for blood products is through the roof.

This is attributed to people attending to health issues which were put off over the last year. This includes some elective surgery, and in the case of platelet demand, cancer therapies. Sadly, a bubble of newly discovered cancers are now going through the treatment pipeline. Cancer treatments frequently cause platelet depletion, hence the need for platelets.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I'm donating platelets again today. I spoke with the blood center logistics-fulfillment director today and she says that in the last weeks, the requests for blood products is through the roof.

This is attributed to people attending to health issues which were put off over the last year. This includes some elective surgery, and in the case of platelet demand, cancer therapies. Sadly, a bubble of newly discovered cancers are now going through the treatment pipeline. Cancer treatments frequently cause platelet depletion, hence the need for platelets.

We have been hearing this as well...for months. While I don't doubt that there is a drastic need (and I donate as often as I can) the continued yelling from the roof tops that "WE NEED YOUR BLOOD NOW!!!" might be a detriment as people start to tune out the urgent message. I don't know what the solution for it is, though.

 

[harllee]

Not sure where to post this info--there is a UNC Covid Recovery Clinic which has opened in my town at the University of North at Chapel Hill. It is for people who have had Covid and have long haul symptoms, which I understand is common. The head doctor is Dr. John Baretta and the phone number 984-974-9747. I hope this info will help some of the posters here that continue to have Covid symptoms.

 

[Leo1277]

Not sure where to post this info--there is a UNC Covid Recovery Clinic which has opened in my town at the University of North at Chapel Hill. It is for people who have had Covid and have long haul symptoms, which I understand is common. The head doctor is Dr. John Baretta and the phone number 984-974-9747. I hope this info will help some of the posters here that continue to have Covid symptoms.

It's great to see more and more such efforts, and I think once/if the acute Covid needs subside, there will be more and more of that. It may be worthwhile to launch a whole new thread for this?

 

[harllee]

It's great to see more and more such efforts, and I think once/if the acute Covid needs subside, there will be more and more of that. It may be worthwhile to launch a whole new thread for this?

Good idea-- I will see if I am allowed to open a new thread about Covid Recovery Clinics